California

California's Department of Education believes that a major purpose of assessment is to evaluate the quality of learning. Recognizing that multiple-choice tests traditionally used in large-scale assessment measure only isolated skills and facts, the California Assessment Program's (CAP) goal is to measure students' ability to apply what they have learned to real-life situations. CAP will align assessment with California's new curriculum mandates-that curricula be literature-based, value-laden, culturally-rich, and integrated across content areas. Assessment will reflect new outcomes-that students gain the knowledge and skills necessary to analyze, organize, interpret, evaluate, and communicate life experiences.

New types of assessment being introduced include open-ended questions, essay, portfolio, oral, and integrated performance assessments. The new program also calls for assessment in more content areas at more grade levels.

In the mathematics area, open-ended questions allow students to solve problems creatively and construct answers that demonstrate the depth of their understanding. When answers are written, students are able to show others how to solve problems, and teachers gain important insights into how much a student knows. An example at the twelfth grade level is:

James knows that half of the students from his school are accepted at the public university nearby. Also, half are accepted at a local private college. He thinks that this adds up to 100 percent, so he will surely be accepted at one or the other institution. Explain why James may be wrong. If possible, use a diagram in your explanation.

A team of teachers is developing an integrated language arts assessment tool. Assessment of students' work occurs as they are engaged in typical classroom activities - reading, talking, writing, and thinking about literature and human experience. Assessment tasks challenge students to discover what is important, meaningful, and valuable in a text and to write responses that give evaluators insight into the processes of student thinking and construction of meaning. The goal is to develop students' capacities for flexible, insightful, productive thinking. For example, eighth grade students are asked to write an evaluative essay about the worth of a book or type of music and then support their judgments. Students set criteria, analyze the subject, and select evidence to support their judgments.

In science, students will demonstrate knowledge of scientific concepts and processes, problem-solving ability, and performance of scientific investigations. For example, given a handful of materials, sixth grade students are asked to design and perform an experiment to determine which of two magnets is stronger. Openended questions are also used; they engage students in creating hypotheses, designing investigations, and writing about social and ethical issues in science.

Assessments of student achievement in history and social sciences will allow students to demonstrate breadth of learning as well as the ability to clarify issues. recognize relationships, determine causes and effects, interpret evidence, and argue for a position. Test instruments will assess a deep knowledge of eras and events rather than isolated minutiae. Testing will provide feedback on a new enriched curriculum which immerses students in a historical context, involving them in the literature, historical documents, and lives of the people of an era. Assessment activities include debating, dramatizing, and defending a point of view orally or in writing. Finding out how well students can think about history will be as important as finding out what they know.

Responses from both teachers and students to field-testing programs have been very positive. Students actually enjoy taking tests and teachers are eager to receive training.